Somewhere (2010)

Somewhere

Directed by: Sofia Coppola

Starring: Stephen Dorff & Elle Fanning

Released: 2010

Country of Origin: USA

Runtime: 97 min.

I absolutely adore Sofia Coppola. She's a magical and wonderful human being. I get as giddy as a 14-year old Japanese school girl every time she releases a movie, and every time she does I'm consistently amazed. At the moment, I don't believe she can do anything wrong. Of coarse, with my luck that will probably mean the next feature she directs is going to suck. That tends to happen when I put this much faith in a director (I'm looking at you David Gordon Green, you bastard), but something tells me she's way to cool for that; I hope. For the time being my opinion of her is safe, because her newest feature (which of course never came to a theater near me) is just as awesome as the rest of her wonderful filmography.

Somewhere stars Stephan Dorff as Johnny, a movie star who seems to have little or no pleasure in his life. He's got plenty of stimuli, but nothing that gives him any feeling. Near the beginning of the film, two blonde girls perform a pole dance to "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters, which causes him to fall asleep. This is a man who has completely disconnected from life. The only real "light" in his life seems to be Cleo, his eleven year old daughter. While it's clear that Johnny has been a little absent in Cloe's life, he is by no means the typical absent father archetype. He may live a meaningless and irresponsible life on his own, but when his daughter is with him he tries his best to be a good father. Cloe is eventually left by her mother for an unspecified amount of time, and Johnny is forced to include her into his daily life.

This premise is bait for a completely generic and awful movie. We have all seen this done before. Reckless and emotionally ill-equipped father/mother is magically reunited with their long lost child, and are forced to re-examine their lives to learn a valuable lesson. And I'll admit, from the way the movie was presented in the trailer, I was a little worried. Still, there was a little voice in the back of my head that whispered: "No, Jordan, Sofia is one of the few non-related females that haven't ever let you down or hurt you. Trust her." For once, my brain was totally right, and Coppola turned an extremely lame plot into something very great. The biggest thing I appreciated about this was the treatment of Johnny. It'd be very easy to present him in a light that shines too much on his short comings as a father. He's not a great father, but he's not horrible. It's clear he loves his daughter, and you never feel he regrets or feels uncomfortable being around her. She also seems happy to spend time with him. Also, the "drama" is very subdued. I find it a little insulting and ineffective when movies try to force an emotional reaction from the audience. In Somewhere things just happen. It's more of a slice-of-life film then a plot driven one. This is their life; take it or leave it. Because of this restraint, when the emotional parts arrive, they are much more effective and heart-breaking. I've also got to mention how great Stephan Dorff and Elle Fanning are. Stephan Dorff has never really impressed me, and in fact the only role I can recall off the top of my head is from Blade. That's not a good sign. In this movie, however, he fits the role perfectly. Apparently those Fanning sister come from a very good well-spring of talent. I've always thought Dakota Fanning has it in her to be something great (she was the only redeeming part of that movie Push, which I'm sure none of you even remember), but Elle is definitely going to give her a run for her money. Also watch out for the surprisingly awesome appearance by Chris Pontius (ya know, from Jackass), and yes I did say awesome.

FINAL VERDICT: Go watch now! I'll admit the movie is slow, but it is never boring. In fact, it's extremely captivating. Yes, I am in love with Sofia Coppola, but I feel I'm still objective enough that if she ever made a stinker of a movie; I'd admit it. Luckily, I don't have to (yet). Another thing: pay close attention to the scene in which Johnny has a cast made of his face. I feel it perfectly captures several aspects of his life, and is oddly mesmerizing and suffocating.

Apologies To My Fans (AKA My Mom)

Well... I'll just say it: I'm a bit lazy. I could provide a whole list of excuses (and I will soon) on why I've left this blog stagnate for the last five months, but it comes down to a bout of lazy. Sure, when I started this up I was unemployed, living in my parents living room, and really had nothing better to do, but let's look at what has changed now. I do have a job (which is only part-time). I live on my own now (really that should give me more time). I don't have access to the internet at my apartment (not a real excuse. I'm at Off The Leaf all the damn time).

Yep.

No Excuse.

And for that loyal fans(Mom), I deeply apologize.

Since that's out of the way, I'm happy to say I'm going to start keeping up with this blog. Originally I had taken a month off to take my self-prescribed, self-taught crash course in writing and grammar, then just never started back up again (kinda defeats the point, huh?). Now when you read this (Mom), there will hopefully be fewer grammatical errors that no one probably noticed in the first place (don't hold your breath. My comma usage may still be out of control). I may not be writing approx. 1,000 words every other day like I did when this started, but I'll try to at least post something about whatever interesting movies I've been watching recently. Because all these "words" are going to eventually come to a boiling point, and I'm going to freak out and verbally accost someone with a torrential outburst of film talk (most likely just yelling out names of directors and movies and swearing a whole lot, which will just make me sound like a super nerdy kid with Tourette's.) No one wants that. Or deserves it.

Since I'm sure you're all wondering what I've been watching this past near-half year, I will tell you. It's not much, but I'll still fill ya in. Get ready for some awesome (or not).

12/20/11 - Welcome To The Dollhouse (1995)

I've seen this a lot. It's awesome. And you should watch it.

12/22/11 - Black Swan (2010)

Amazing film. Miss Portman was amazing, and very deserving of that lil' gold statue she received. Also, Vincent Cassel was top-notch as always.

12/25/11 - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader (2010)

By far the best film in the Narnia series, but that's really not saying much. I hear it will be the last one in the series that will be made. We can only hope.

12/25/11 - True Grit (2010)

Yep, Cohen Bros. Yep, It was awesome. I'm sure you've all heard a ton about it. So, I won't bore you.

1/2/11 - Devil (2010)

Ehhh... I'm not sure I expected this to be any good. Cause it wasn't. It was just kinda nothing. I sat and I watched it, but I was completely detached from anything that was going on. I'm sure in a couple years I'll forget it even existed.

1/15/11 - The Social Network (2010)

I already wrote about this one. This was just a re-watch with my sister. Go Here.

1/15/11 - The King's Speech (2010)

Easily one of the best films of the year. Once I buy this I'm sure I'll revisit it and share a bit. Just please, please, please watch the R-rated version. Don't support the silly commercial ploy to get more people in the theater by trimming one tiny bit of swearing to get a PG-13 rating. You'd be robbing yourself of a very great scene. All because you're afraid of the "fuck" word (sorry, Mom). Which is a dumb reason.

1/22/11 - The Shortcut (2009)

Uh, I'm not sure I remember this. I think it has a chick from 30 Rock in it. Something about a path in the woods, old guys chained in a basement, and well... who cares. It obviously didn't make an impression.

1/29/11 - House (1977)

Ever wonder how Japanese cinema went from classics of film (Seven Samurai, Late Spring, Ugetsu) to batshit crazy weirdness (Tokyo Gore Police, Ichi The Killer, Meatball Machine)? It was this movie. It all changed with House. This movie rules in a very bad-awesome kind of way. But be vary wary of anything it influenced. Crazy Asians.

2/4/11 - 127 Hours (2010)

Apparently this was the only movie I watched the entire month of February. What was I doing? Hmmmm..... Really can't remember why the hell I couldn't find a couple hours to watch a movie. I was probably just being awesome (as usual). At least I picked a very bad-ass movie for my one viewing. James Franco is a very sexy man.

3/11/11 - Blue Valentine (2010)

Simply beautiful. I cannot say how much I loved this movie. Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling were absolutely perfect. Some of the scenes in this movie are among the most wonderful and heart-breaking I can recall in recent memory. Ignore the whole drama of the initial NC-17 rating. It wasn't deserved, and I'm very glad they got the morons at the MPAA to change it.

On a side note: I met three wonderful "older" gals at the screening I went to. We hung out for like half an hour talking about film. They made my night. If only I was that smooth with girls that are 40 years younger.

3/29/11 - Pickpocket (1959)

I wrote about this in Grindstone Magazine this month. Go check it out. It should be available wherever cool people go (not sure where those places are) for at least a few more days.

4/8/11 - Your Highness (2011)

Hey! Do you like really shitty movies? If so, you'll probably love this one. Puke.

4/13/11 - Sucker Punch (2011)

Hot girls in a mental institute fighting dragons, robot samurai, and steam-punk zombie nazis? Yes, please. Oh... wait... this a film about rape cheaply disguised as nerd-porn? Thanks alot, Zack Snyder. You suck.

4/15/11 - Hanna (2011)

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

4/16/11 - Rango (2011)

By far the best looking animated film I've ever seen. Seriously. By the way, this is not a "kids film." So, don't take your kids to it. Unless your kids are bad-asses.

4/20/11 - Source Code (2011)

I'm going to need to see this again before I make a firm judgement. I want to say it's good. But I feel like my expectations and what I watched were clashing a bit during my viewing. It's directed by David Bowie's son, which is awesome. Also, Duncan Jones's last film Moon was great. Go watch that.

4/26/11 - The Girlfriend Experience (2009)

I watched this last week for my article in Grindstone. Please pick up a copy when it hits the streets later this week.

There it is. I feel a lot better getting it all out. Expect more soon-ish.